Is it Miss Darcy's turn now?
by austenite
Summary: Miss Georgiana is hungry for some society herself, especially after her sister-in-law, Elizabeth, has shown her to powers of womanhood that she never thought she possessed.


Elizabeth Bennet, now Mrs. Darcy, sat in the parlour with her sister-in-law, Miss Georgiana. They had formed quite an agreeable acquaintance over the three months for which Elizabeth had become accustomed to her new home and companions.

"How would you like to travel to the Peaks with Mr. and Mrs. Bingley, Georgiana?" Elizabeth asked casually, her hands busy at her needlework.

"I would like that very much." Georgiana was herself busy with embroidery. "I must confess that I would much prefer some fresh air to the often dull society my brother brings with him every now and then."

"Dull indeed?"

"My brother would be very displeased if he heard me say so but Ms. Bingley and Mr. and Mrs. Hurst are quite uncivil and very dull indeed. It is unkind to criticize Mr. Bingley's sisters, for he is a very good man, very good indeed. Oh, sister, I would very much like to travel to the Peaks."

"A year ago, my uncle and aunt and I planned to visit the Peaks. Instead, we came to Derbyshire and visited Pemberley and was fortunate enough to make your acquaintance. Though I am very pleased with the result of our detour, I still very much desire to visit the Peaks."

"Shall we talk to my brother? You must. He listens to your advice and cannot resist your persuasion. Sister, for my health, please do." Georgiana pirched by the window overlooking the great lake of Pemberley. The birds flapped their feathered wings and soared into the horizon, where Georgiana wished to find love. She had grown very fond of Elizabeth, who had helped her overcome some of her shyness and reserve. She found a most intimate friend in Elizabeth, who as a woman of one and twenty, understood perfectly the concerns of a sixteen-year-old girl.

Elizabeth rang for the housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds, who scurried into the parlour with alacrity. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Prepare dinner for five tonight, for Mr. and Mrs. Bingley will join us with Mr. Darcy. And you look very pretty today, Mrs. Reynolds."

"Thank you, ma'am."

...

At the dinner table, lively and sensible conversation filled the opulent dining hall of Pemberley. Mr. Bingley was as attentive to Jane as one could expect a young man to be. Mr. Darcy, with his intense passion, had eyes for no other than his loveliest Elizabeth. Watching the warm glances exchanged between the lovers, Georgiana suddenly felt out of place. There was a sort of loneliness nobody but a lover could ever heal.

"My dear, would it not be nice to travel to the Peaks this summer with (Bingley's first name) and my sister?" Elizabeth fluttered her lashes at Darcy, who had completely melted under the penetrating gaze of her fine eyes.

"Of course, my dear, if Mr. and Mrs. Bingley would agree to the excursion."

"We should love to very much." Mr. Bingley said cheerfully as if he could read his wife's thoughts. "The society and beauty in that part of the country are superb."

"Excellent. Goergiana must join us too, my dear, for she is of age to venture into the perils of adult society." The playful tone did not escape Mr. Darcy's keen ear.

"Well, if you insist, though I think it is in her best interest to go to London to Mrs. Jones to enrich her mind by reading."

"Oh, my dear, you must not deprive your dear sister of her fair share of society and amusement. You must relinquish your fatherly care for her, for she is truly of age and maturity, truly ready to enjoy the company of other gentlemen and gentlewomen, and fully capable of distinguishing respectable company from the opposite. You have watched over her like an eagle the past decade; you must have faith in her now!"

Mr. Darcy considered his wife's argument carefully and decided to trust her judgement, and an innocent dinner party quickly granted the wish of the young Georgiana, whose quiet disposition never betrayed the turbulent passion hidden beneath.

...

"Oh, how beautiful!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "Aren't you glad we came?"

"Yes, sister, very much so." Goergiana beamed as she took one step further than she would normally to stand beside her sister-in-law. She felt empowered as a woman, no longer the child who hid behind her brother. The breeze stroke her rosy cheeks as she absorbed the beauty of the great outdoors.

The party returned to Daisy's Lodge that night for a very delightful dinner with two other gentlemen, both extraordinarily handsome and wealthy. Elizabeth was well aware of Georgiana's partiality towards one of the gentlemen but had not yet disclosed her thoughts to her loving but often overly protective husband. Mr. Pintward was the only heir to a nobleman of great import from the north of England. He claimed to have heard of Mr. Bingley, who seemed previously entirely unaware of Mr. Pintward's existence. The other gentleman, Mr. Schoonmaker, who was much too playful for Mr. Darcy's taste, was a favourite at St. James'. Georgiana was apparently very taken by the tall and elegant stance of Mr. Pintward, as she confided in Elizabeth later in the night when they were alone.

"Mr. Pintward is such a lively man, sister. He seems to be of good sense and humour, too, do not you agree?" In the elder woman's eyes, Georgiana was in danger of falling in love, which would be most imprudent as she was young had she not been educated, cautioned, and watched for a decade by a most acute brother. Elizabeth thought it was time for Georgiana to be trifled in the heart, for she was of a steadfast head and sound judgement to allow any true folly to occur. The former believed learning to love was a painful process, for nobody, excepting the few uncommonly lucky, could on first attempt feel the deepest and most passionate love for a sensible man who would return the same sentiments. The love of the young and callous was of a dazzling but temporary nature, Elizabeth observed, who was determined to aid her sister in understanding the beauty as well as the perils of love.

"I do agree that he seems to be of good sense and humour though our fortnight's acquaintance with him can scarcely allow us to boast a complete understanding of his character and principles." Remembering her own partiality for Mr. Wickham which resulted in her blindness to his lewd and base character, Elizabeth knew the deceptions a good natured appearance and countenance could employ. She was most certain that Mr. Pintward was of actual gentlemanlike qualities but for Georgiana's sake and education, she must point out haste was not prudent when falling in love.

"That is true. We know not of his character and history except what he tells us and reveals through his sensible actions." There was such a sense of disappointment in her tone that Elizabeth felt guilty of having spoken quite so strongly.

"There is nothing wrong with falling in love in a fortnight. Mr. Bingley, if I may have your secrecy, I believe, fell in love with Mrs. Bingley within the first half hour of making her acquaintance." Elizabeth winked at her younger sister-in-law, who allowed herself to be humoured by the elder's playful remarks. Elizabeth reflected with some caution that her husband may not have liked his younger sister to adopt too spirited a tone as his wife had, but her reflections were of short duration as two maids came with lights to accompany the two ladies to their respective rooms.

"I shall watch the man mentioned earlier with my keen eyes lest he was an adominable character. For present, however, check the presentation of your partiality for if your dear brother perceives your fancies, you would not be making excursions with us for the next ten years."

"That would be grievous indeed," she added with some uncharacteristic exuberance, "for then I would be sure to die an old maid!"

The two parted ways, the elder to her loving husband's embrace and the younger to the imagination solititude could inspire.

In the apartment which Elizabeth and Darcy shared, she watched as he undressed and came into bed. As she lied in his arms, she thought herself the most fortunate to have married a man of the deepest passions though unuttered unless they were completely alone. She was most contented with her situation and company and pitied her friend Charlotte in making the most improbable alliance with Mr. Collins. To think that Charlotte would have placed security over sense in her husband pained Elizabeth greatly.

"I know that smile, my dear, what engaged your mind most pleasantly if not naughtily just now?" Darcy kissed his wife with a sort of gentleness that would be belied by his sharp features and learned conversations in public.

"I was chiefly engaged in the pleasant thoughts of my happy marriage to you and pitiful sentiments towards my dear friend Charlotte's most unhappy, even if well-disguised, alliance with Mr. Collins."

"Mrs. Collins seemed to be quite content in her situation when we last visited her in their _humble abode_." Affecting the grossly vain tone of Mr. Collins, Darcy equalled Elizabeth in sarcasm and wit much more than she realized before their marriage. The two lovers laughed, if a little ill-naturedly.

"I am most grateful of your making the remark or I would have to condescend to make one myself. You just gave me the opportunity to boast my goodness and kind temperament towards my friend when I was no better in essence than you, my dear." Elizabeth had taught her formerly dignified and proper husband to accept teases with grace and humour. She would not have ventured such a remark in the early days of their marriage, for he might not have countenance steady enough to laugh at himself as she often did herself. "I am most unkind, as Jane would observe, to speak so ill of my dear friend, but I was in truth in serious contemplation about Georgiana's prospects."

This turn of subject caught Mr. Darcy by surprise and rendered him much more serious and agitated than before. "Georgiana is not seventeen, much too young for unguarded society and, if you would even suggest, the solemn phase of matrimony."

"I do not think her ill prepared for unguarded society or too young. She is a girl of the most excellence understanding and disposition. What I am anxious about, if I may speak so plainly, is that she may by her youth mistake insupportable inclination for the deepest of passions. How shall I teach her the art of love, if there is such a study? Oh, where is Mary when I most need her philosophical reflections?" Elizabeth's nature could not allow her to be serious for long. She enjoyed making fun of her younger sisters as much as of the husband of her former friend of the most intimate terms. Yet a glance from Darcy returned her to the issue of most import to him as a guardian and brother of his beloved sister. "I cannot remember how I managed to learn the difference between superficial partiality and true love and passion. I don't believe I truly understood the difference until my rather interesting interaction with you, my dear. Maybe I shall consult Jane in the matter, for she has a much more thorough understanding of the affairs of the heart by experience. I shall imagine Georgiana the object of much attention and affection as many seek her beauty as well as her fortune. She has every means to bewitch any man in the country, a fact that you my dearest husband may have tried to overlook for it caused too much vexation. She possesses an uncommon beauty, and not to mention a large fortune, and her conversations have been much livelier and becoming of a sociable woman in the past months. I hope you are not angry with me for showing her some powers she did not know she possessed."

There was a pause, a rather awkward one, that inspired some unpleasant conversation in Elizabeth's mind. She felt her husband would most certainly beg her to devote her spirits to other women than his sister. She had no intention to do so if so entreatied, for Georgiana would have to explore the meaning and means of womanhood sooner or later. Elizabeth had much rather guide her in her exploration than to discover she had fallen irrevocably in love with an undeserving fellow. Awaiting Darcy's reply, she wondered when she should reveal Georgiana's partiality and wish to fall in love to him.

"I am certainly not angry with you, my fair lady. Considering that the issue you have just raised is of a nature a brother ten years older cannot attend, I hope that you will with your sensible sister fulfill the role which I cannot comprise."

Surprised, Elizabeth did not make a reply for a minute. "I did not think you would be so trusting, my dear, not with your obstinacy as your only defect! To honour your trust, I shall not quit until Georgiana is of perfect understanding of love, passion, and romance."

"I may rest on your word, I trust, for you with your understanding, no matter what it is, has landed on the treasure of the country."

Again surprised, Elizabeth could only laugh heartily after staring into the dark eyes of her handsome husband. "Oh, my dear, my spirits are catching with the Darcys. Imagine what Lady Catherine would think!"

They continued in pleasant banter, at one point of which Elizabeth fell asleep in Darcy's strong arms. Darcy observed the closed lids of his wife, her fair complexion and rosy lips. He could not help but perceive her as the most beautiful woman he ever beheld. He could not help but hope his own sister would become a similar sort of woman. Even if he had to adjust to her style of conversation and generally optimistic view of the word in the early days of their acquaintance and again in the beginning of their more intimate relationship as man and wife, he had come to love her more than he thought possible. Every turn of her countenance and every gesture that may easily pass the examination of others is most engraved in his mind with much affection.

Elizabeth stirred and woke. She did not know the time but the sun was certainly still hiding from that part of the country. "My dear?"

There was no reply. Alarmed, Elizabeth found that her husband was nowhere to be found in their chamber. Maybe he went for a walk, she thought considering the nature of their convesation the night before. She thought she had better to leave him to his contemplation than to disturb it. With reassuring thoughts, she fell asleep again.

Indeed when Elizabeth arose again just before dawn, Darcy was sitting in the armchair by the bed, perusing a bunch of papers. Elizabeth observed him as his expressions varied greatly from one page to another. He, after a quarter of an hour under vigilance, met her gaze and with a quick change of colours and concealment of the papers, climbed back into bed with her.

Though most curious, Elizabeth attempted to divert her attention somewhere else so as not to seem suspicious and doubting. Darcy's behaviour, however, was much altered throughout the day that she could not help but wonder and suspect an issue of alarming nature had arose which he would rather conceal from her.


End file.
